starter wont stop!

[irishpilot]

Hello,

Twice in the last week my X's starter wont turn off. I turn the motor over, it starts, but I can hear the starter still cranking. so I turn the ignition off and the engine stops but the starter still cranks. I pull the keys out of the ignition, and the starter is still going!

The only way i have been able to fix it is by unhooking the neg battery cable.

I have taped the starter with a hammer as well as the solenoid, I dont know if thats helping or not.

any ideas? my guess is solenoid, since it seems to be electrical. but i dont know if the ignition could be causing this as well...

 

[Turdle]

I had a 91 t-bird that did this--

I had to replace the starter--

 

[Phager]

Yeah, I'll second the starter. It sounds like the soleniod is shorting internally and allowing power to flow.

Pat

 

[walterd140]

Usually tapping the starter with a hammer is in line with a bad silioniod (to get it to engage). I gotta third the starter issue & say yank the bad boy outta there.

If it's spinning with the key out, then you got a hot wire in the starter grounding or a bad starter noid. Does it spin & grind? If so you are doing damage to the flywheel as well, so get it done quickly.

Walter

 

[irishpilot]

it doesn't grind the flywheel thanks god

correct me if I'm wrong/// I was under the impression that the solenoid was on the firewall, so should i replace that or the starter it self?

thanks

 

[Phager]

The doohicky (gotta' love these fancy technical terms ) on the fender is the starter relay, the actual solenoid is on the starter itself, so to replace the solenoid you have to replace the starter assembley.

 

[marragtop]

In the interest of time and money, you might consider replacing the solenoid on the fender first to see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Critter92X]

Sounds like it's the starter Bendix hanging up on you.You might pull the starter off and see if the gear spins freely on the drive it might just need cleaned and lubed.

 

[shamaal]

If I may recap:
The engine starts - Solenoid (Bendix) engages pulling starter on to flywheel

When out of ignition switch start the engine still runs but so does the starter

With engine off, the starter still runs - Important - But is not on flywheel, the solenoid has disengaged. (eliminates ignition switch and starter relay as problem)

Starter motor still turns and requires battery disconnect to turn off. It is not on flywheel

If the above is right, problem is the internal relay in the starter sticking from NO contact to clapper. As previously diagnosed a bad starter. It seems to me the auto stores test these things.

 

[CDW6212R]

No, wait, stop. First thing, check the starter relay, on the fender. That is the most common cause of a run-on starter, not the starter or the solenoid on the starter.

Test that starter relay. First smack it with the back end of a screwdriver to try to make it let go of its internal solenoid. Touch the battery cable back where it goes to see if the problem persists. You can also just use an ohmmeter across the main relay terminals. If the problem went away by smacking it, boom, go buy a Ford starter relay.

Do not buy starter relays of lesser quality, like Autozone sells. I bought one from them several years ago, and after a month it would stick closed like your issue. I got my money back, a lifetime warantee is no good if the part fails so quickly.

I prefer those fender mounted starters to those on a starter like Chevy's. It is a whole bunch easier to change that part then a whole starter. You can lay a screwdriver across the input main terminal and the trigger terminal, for remote testing. Good luck,

 

[RyanT85]

i agree with it possibly being the solenoid mine was doing the same thing about 6 months ago and it is really easy to test

 

[mikeinri]

In the interest of simplicity, I would replace the solenoid (relay) first. This is much cheaper and easier to replace than the starter, should only take 10 minutes, no jacking up the truck, etc.

If that doesn't do it, then it's definitely the starter. I hate blind part-swapping more than anyone, but I've seen how the starter is jammed in there and wouldn't want to replace that unless I was completely sure the relay was OK.

Mike